Chocolate Christmas Sandwich Cookies (Gluten free, vegan)

I CANNOT believe that Christmas is next week. I blame my disbelief on turning 30 last week, the older I get, the faster time flies... I...

I CANNOT believe that Christmas is next week. I blame my disbelief on turning 30 last week, the older I get, the faster time flies...

I should start by apologizing for my infrequent posts these days. The truth is, I am working around the clock (about 7 days a week) running my own marketing business and its hard to find the time to bake, cook and photograph my meals. I tend to shoot only in daylight because my camera and lighting are quite limited so that pretty much leaves only weekends to take pictures of recipes.

Luckily for me my husband gave me an awesome new camera for my 30th birthday!

That's right, most of these photos were taken at night with the new camera and I am so pleased that the light doesn't look too shabby at all! This means that in 2016 I will be sharing a lot of new recipes with you because I won't be stuck only shooting my pictures in daylight. Woo hoo!Now back to Christmas. I have always baked around the holidays, mostly my grandmother's recipes which are awesome and totally decadent. She taught me to bake as a child and every year we would get together and make her cookie and bar recipes for Christmas. After she passed I sort of picked up the family baking torch, supplying the treats every year. In the last few years I have stopped baking her recipes (they are definitely NOT vegan or gluten free), but I still love to bake Christmas desserts. This Chocolate Christmas Cookie Sandwich recipe is one of a few new vegan and gluten free recipes that I created this week and will be sharing with you before the holiday arrives so you can try them at home! I totally believe that decadent tasting holiday treats can be healthy. Hopefully you'll agree after trying this recipe and the other recipes I plan to share this week!

These cookies are seriously good and intensely chocolatey. You need to make them.

This recipe is a lot healthier than your average Christmas cookie recipe and pretty simple to make. The cookies remind me of the chocolate sandwich cookies that come in those big tin boxes of holiday shortbread cookies. The ones that have like ten varieties of buttery cookies dipped in chocolate. The variation these cookies remind me of are the often rectangular shaped chocolate sandwich cookies. If you still aren't sure what I'm talking about, think Fudgeos or Dare cookies. To make these cookies extra Christmasy I used Christmas cookie cutters to give them fun seasonal shapes (I chose Christmas trees and gingerbread men cutouts).

These cookies come together with ease in a food processor (though you can make them by hand too). They roll out with no mess and bake in a flash.

The filling for these chocolate sandwich cookies is inspired by this chocolate pie that I made for Fall. I consider it "healthy" because even though its very rich and chocolatey tasting, its secretly full of pureed butternut squash! You'd never know it though because once it chills in the fridge it pretty much turns into chocolate fudge frosting.

This recipe is vegan, gluten free, soy free, refined sugar free and nut free making it super allergy friendly. It would be super fun to make with kids as its very simple to prepare and super rich and chocolatey. Give it a try this holiday season!HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS SANDWICH COOKIESCOOKIE DOUGH:

DRY INGREDIENTS:

1 cup brown rice flour

1/3 cup buckwheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup arrowroot starch

Pinch of salt and cinnamon

1/3 cup cacao or cocoa powder

1/4 cup coconut sugar

Blend dry ingredients together in food processor.

WET INGREDIENTS:

5-6 tbsp coconut oil

3.5 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup of water

Add wet ingredients to dry in food processor and blend well until smooth dough forms. Make a ball with dough. Roll out thinly (but not too thinly)
between two sheets of parchment paper. Use cookie cutters to cut (ensure for every shape you cut there are even numbers of cookies so they can be sandwiched). When you run out of space to cut shapes, form a ball of dough with the dough scraps, reroll the
dough ball and cut more cookies out. Repeat until you run out of dough. Arrange cut outs evenly on baking sheet and bake in oven
preheated to 375F about 10 minutes, until firm but not overly dry. Cool on stovetop while you make the filling.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE FILLING/FROSTING:

2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced small

1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips

3 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp coconut cream or vegan milk

Pinch of salt

3 tbsp cacao powder

1 tbsp coconut oil

Peel and chop the squash. Steam until very soft. Add to
food processor. Melt the chocolate and coconut cream together over
lowest heat in a small pot, stir constantly as you melt. Add to squash with remaining ingredients. Puree together until super
smooth. Transfer to a bowl and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour. Once semi
firm, use to frost or use as filling to make cookie sandwiches. Spread about 1/2 tsp of filling for each sandwich. Once you have made your sandwiches, arrange on baking sheet and chill in freezer for 20 minutes to set firm, then transfer to fridge. Serve cold.